


The End of The World

by Justaboredpersonhere



Category: The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Death, F/M, How Do I Tag, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:21:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29908623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justaboredpersonhere/pseuds/Justaboredpersonhere
Summary: Jennifer White was 12 years old when society fell and the dead started walking. After roaming on her own for a while, she happens upon a man in a Sheriffs outfit.
Relationships: Andrea (Walking Dead) & Original Female Character(s), Carl Grimes & Original Female Character(s), Carl Grimes/Original Female Character(s), Daryl Dixon & Original Female Character(s), Glenn Rhee & Original Female Character(s), Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Rick Grimes & Original Character(s), Rick Grimes & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Days Gone By

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna take a swing at a Walking Dead fic, most likely will go bad, and I still don't know how to tag.

Silence...  
It was all there was after the world fell apart, when people died, when the dead rose... No longer do cars drive by on roads, no longer do parents walk their children to school, no longer does the Government exist nor does society. Jennifer White, a small 12 year old girl, wanders from place to place on her own. With no one to help her, she helps herself with the survival skills her dad had left her, she goes alone, in a world where dead people walk and devour the living. 

Armed with her fathers hunting knife and 50. Desert Eagle, she comes across a gas station with plenty of stationary cars. She decides to search the area for supplies, primarily food. The place seems to be void of all life, neither the living or dead are there. That is until she hears a voice call out to her.

"Little girl!" A man says. Jennifer, out of reflex unsheats her dads knife and spins around.

"I'm a policeman, you don't need to be scared" He continues. Jennifer stood there, frozen. There a man stood, in a Sheriffs outfit, alive and well... "Stay away!" She warned him, she couldn't actually believe someone alive had found her, it had to be her mind playing tricks on her. "Little girl, put the knife away, I'm not going to hurt you" The man told her raising his hands up. "Are you hurt? Do you need help?" He asked. She just shook her head at him, not lowering her knife. "Where are your parents, little girl?" He questioned. "Dead" Jennifer told him, coldly, the sheriff winced at words. "I'm sorry to hear that" He informed her. "Are you camped out anywhere? Are you with anyone else?"He questioned her again Jennifer just shook her head at the man. "Would you like to come with me? I can get you to safety" The Sheriff asked her, lowering his hands a bit. Jennifer stared at him "Nowhere is safe anymore, not with the dead ones around now" "I'm going to Atlanta, you can come with me, I can protect you, just put away that knife" He told her. Jennifer took glared at the cop once more before sheathing her knife. Once he made no move to charge her, she agreed to go with him, she hadn't seen a living person in weeks. "My car is almost out of gas, I don't suppose you have any, so, we'll have to be on foot before long" The Cop told her. He looked around for a moment before getting onto the ground, Jennifer looked at him for a second, before he got and walked towards something. Jennifer noticed he was trying to talk to a little blonde girl holding a Teddy bear. Jennifer immediately knew that they were no longer a person, just another dead one. The dead one turned around slowly to look at the cop, the child's mouth had been ripped off and was blood red. The cop looked sad for a second before backing up and shooting the dead one when it charged at him. Its sad, not even children are spared by the dead. "Jennifer" She mumbled. The cop spun round, seemingly have forgotten she was there for a second. "Pardon?" He asked her. "My name" She told him "Its Jennifer" The cop knelt down to her level and looked at her. "Well, Jennifer, I'm Officer Rick Grimes" He smiled at her before standing back up. "My cars this way" "Who are you?" Jennifer questioned Rick. He seemed confused before responding "What do you mean by that?" " "I havent seen anyone from the Authorities in a long time, nonetheless a person, how are you alive?" She said. "Before all of this happened, I was shot by some criminals, I blacked out and I've been in a coma so I don't know whats happened. I woke up and the whole Hospital had been overrun by those dead things, I was the only one alive. I managed to get out and I'm trying to find my wife and son" Rick told her. "I've heard about a refugee center in the city, if my familys alive, they would go there" Jennifer frowned and imagined how horrible that would've have been,.to wake up alone at the end of the world. "I'm sorry that happened to you" " "What about you? Why are you on your own?" He asked her. Jennifers eyes started to tear up, remembering the last person she'd been with. :My parents and I, we were at a supposed safe zone, it was, for a while. The camp was overrun by the dead ones and a lot of people died, including my mother. My dad and me were able to get away, but he was bitten saving me" Jennifer was very close to bursting into tears, at the memory of her parents. "I don't want to talk about it anymore" she told him, wiping her eyes. Rick didn't ask her any more, he just apologised and remained silent through the rest of the journey. Eventually, he spotted a house on a hill, stopping the car. " "I'm going to go ask tbe people in that house if they have any gas" Jennifer nodded and decided to wait in the car for him to return. She waited there a few minutes before he returned on a horse. "Solved our gas issue" he said. Jennifer got on the horse with him riding the rest of the journey to Atlanta. They passed a few of dead ones in the city, and saw crows eating corpses, until, Rick and Jennifer heard a Helicopter. Rick immediately took off after it only to be blocked off by at least a hundred dead ones. Rick cursed to himself and turned the horse around, to speed off in another direction. They were quickly cut off by more dead ones coming round a corner. The horse threw both Jennifer and Rick off of it as the dead ones clawed and bit it to the floor. The horses pained crys and screams would stick with Jennifer for a while, she never liked animals being in pain or distress. Rick kicked a dead one trying to get him, when he saw they were surrounded, he shouted at her to get under the tank. They both desperately crawled under the tank and into the underbelly hatch, that Rick slammed shut. He scooted next to a dead soldier, and Jennifer eyes immediately widened, she unsheathed her dads knife and lunged towards the dead soldier, planting the knife into its skull. "Why did you do that?" Rick asked her between pants of breath. "He wasn't dead, it was going to bite you, you have to hit the head to kill it" she told him. He thanked her and they sat there for a minute. "How old are you?" Rick asked her. "I'm 12" The cops eyes immediately widened and started apologizing that a kid so young like her had to go through all this. They sat there for a few minutes before static could be heard from inside the tank. Both of them turned to look at where the noise was coming from, before a voice was heard. "Hey you two, Dumbasses, yeah yous in the tank, you cosy in there?"


	2. Meeting Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick and Jennifer are stuck inside of tank, and a voice helps them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, chapter two.

As more static came through the radio, overshadowing the groans of the dead ones, Rick quickly scuttled his way over to the radio to respond.

"Hello? Hello!" Rick responded to the man.

"Ah, there you are, you had me wondering"

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see us right now?" Rick berated the guy with questions.

"Yeah, I can see you and you're both surrounded by Walkers, thats the bad news" The boy told them.

"Does that mean there's good news?" Jennifer asked, kneeling next to Rick.

"No" The guy said bluntly.

"Whoever you are, I don't mind telling you that we're rather concerned in here" 

"Oh dude, you should see it from where I'm standing, you'd be having a major freak out right now" The man stated, not being of any help.

"Oi! Asshat! Either you help us get out of here, or you stop talking to us!" Jennifer yelled at the mystery radio boy. The kid paused for a second before responding.

"Alright, calm down. I'd say make a run for it"  
Rick looked rather annoyed at his words.

"Oh right, because its as easy as doing that isn't it?" Jennifer responded sarcastically, her London accent coming out thick.

"Its not as dumb as it sounds, ok? You've got eyes in the sky here. There's one geek still on the tank, but the rest of them have joined in on the meat frenzy that horse is providing. You still with me?" The guy explained. 

"Yeah, we are" Rick said.

"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded, if you move now, you stand a chance. You got ammo?" 

"In that duffel bag i dropped outside, can I get to it?" Rick asked. Jennifer frowned at him, before quickly telling him.

"Rick, that bag is pointless right now, we'll be lucky to get out with our lives"

"The guy I have with me is still fully loaded, 9 rounds, I don't fire it because I'm certain it'll injure me, you can take it, I'll use my knife and well go back for that bag later" He looked at her, taking the 50. AE in her hands.

"The kids making sense, what do you have on you?" Radio boy asked him.

"Hang on" Rick told him, as he checked how many bullets he had left, shuffling over to the dead soldier too, searching him for spare ammo. Rick picked up a grenade, stuffing it in his pocket, whispering to himself.  
He got back on the radio.

"I got a 50. AE, 9 rounds and a Beretta with a full clip, 15 rounds" He told him.

"Jump right off of the tank, there's an alley maybe 50 yards from there, be there" The kid told them.

"Hey, whats your name?" Rick asked the man on the radio. 

"Dumbass, have you been listening? You're running out of time!" Radio boy told Rick, sounding irritated.

"Rick we need to leave, now" Jennifer told him. Rick panted for a few seconds, before nodding and charging out of the tank, Jennifer closely behind him.

Rick slammed his Beretta around a dead ones mouth, knocking him straight off the tank, while rippin its skin open. Rick and Jennifer proceeded to jump of the tank, Rick stumbled for a second while Jennifer stabbed a dead one, going after Rick. He quickly got up and fired off a few rounds, killing a few of the dead ones as they ran. They sprinted down the street, towards the ally, while Rick continued emptying round into the dead ones. They got to the gate at the alley where an Asian guy put his hands up and screamed at them. 

"Woah! Not dead! Not dead!" 

They both assumed it was the guy on the radio, and quickly followed him as Rick continued to shoot the dead fucks. The reached a tall yellow ladder that the three of them quickly climbed, the groaning of the dead growing louder. Rick barely made it up before the dead swarmed the bottom of the ladder, Jennifer quickly found herself thankful that the dead couldn't climb.

They climbed until they reached a banister, all three of them looking over it, down at the dead.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood, you the new sheriff? Riding in to clean up the town?" The Asian boy joked.  
"Wasn't our intention, I'm sure" Jennifer responded panting heavily like the other two.

"Yeah whatever, yee haw, you two are both still Dumbasses" He told them.

"Names Rick, and thank you" 

"Glenn, who's the kid?" He asked.

" I'm Jennifer, Rick found me not too long ago, I'm going to help find his family" She told the Asian boy, named Glenn. 

"Oh no, oh shit, fuck!" Jennifer cursed, looking down at the dead once more, seeing that they could in fact climb that ladder.

"Watch your language!" Rick told her. Jennifer immediately grew annoyed at him scolding her.

"Really Rick? Its the end of the world and death is just below us and you're concerned about a kid swearing!?" She yelled at him. Glenn pointed to the very unsafe looking ladder that goes up. 

"On the brighter side, at least the fall will kill us, I'm a glass half-full kinda guy" Glenn told them, starting to ascend the ladder. They climbed the ladder and over to another building, following Glenn.  
Rick looked at the makeshift barricades blocking an alleyway below them.

"Were you the one who did that?" He asked Glenn.

"Naw, someone probably at the start of it" 

"Why the hell did you risk your own life to save two 'Dumbasses' stuck in a tank?" Jennifer questioned him.  
Glenn opened a hatch and threw his bag down the hole.  
"Foolish, naive, hope that if I'm ever in that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me, I guess that makes me an even bigger dumbass than you two" Glenn stated, climbing down the hole. They both followed him down, not knowing where they were going. 

They sped trough the building and down the alley access when Glenn pulled out his Radio.

"I'm back, I bought friends, there four geeks in the alley" Glenn spoke through the Walkie Talkie. They all got to the bottom of the stairs where two of the dead ones saw them and started stumbling towards them. Jennifer quickly unsheathed her knife and was about to charge, when two guys, dressing in some sort of makeshift armour, armed with baseball bats, bursted out of a nearby door. 

They ran up behind the dead and quickly beat them down, killing them with the baseball bats.

"Let's go!" Glenn said as he sprinted towards the door. They ran past the guys, still beating down the dead ones. They got inside where Rick was immediately pulled to the side, a blonde woman aiming a gun at her head. 

"Andrea stop" A man and a woman told her.

"Why should I? We might die because of this asshole?" She shouted at them. 

"Because if you make the slightest move on him now, you're not going to fucking breathe anymore" A high British voice called out at her. Jennifer, who never sheathed her knife, had it aimed right at the woman, supposedly named Andrea's, neck. Andrea seemed to tense, before lowering her gun away from Ricks face.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me" Andrea apologised, backing away. Jennifer put away her knife. Everyone one was silent, staring at the child, before Rick said.

"I- I don't understand"  
A man grabbed Rick by the arm pulling him forward. 

"Look, they key to surviving is scavenging, they key to scavenging is? Sneaking in and out, silently" The man told them as they walked through the store.

"Not shooting up the damn streets"  
He pushed Rick to a point where he and Jennifer could see that maybe over a hundred dead ones were piled up against a set of doors, trying to get in.

"Every damn geek for miles heard you shooting" A black man behind her said. Jennifer just stared at them. She noticed a dead one was using a brick to smash against the glass door, they were smarter than she thought. Eveyone else seemed to notice the 'geek' as they called them, using the brick and they immediately backed up.

"What the hell were you two even doing out there?" Andrea questioned them both.

"We were trying to catch up and flag the helicopter, when we were cut off" Jennifer explained to them, while they just looked doubtful.

Thats bullshit, there ain't no damn helicopter" The black guy said.

You were experiencing a hallucination, it happens" a woman told them.

"There was a Helicopter! I saw jt" Rick told them annoyed.

"Hey T-Dog, try that cb radio, see if you can contact camp"

"Camp? Like the refugee center?" Rick asked them.

"Yeah, the refugee center" The black woman scoffed.  
"They got biscuits waiting in the oven for us".

"I got no signal" T-Dog said, his eyes darted around for a second.

"Maybe you'd get better reception on the roof?" Jennifer responded to him, it made sense in her head.

Before anyone could say anything else, rifle shots banged out. Eveyone looked straight up before Andrea cursed.  
"Oh shit, is that Dixon?" They instantly climbed a set of stairs, Jennifer and Rick following closely.

They got to the roof to see a redneck looking, biker boy, standing on the edge of the roof, with a rifle in his hands.

"Dixon are you crazy?!" Morales shouted at him.  
'Dixon' just hopped off of the ledge and said.

"Oughta be more polite ta a man with a gun, yeah? Its just common sense" 

His mention of guns made her remember that Rick still had hers. "Rick, can I have my gun back?" She whispered to him. He looked at her briefly before handing her gun back to her.

T-Dog was visibly annoyed at the redneck wasting g bullets and attracting more dead bastards toward them.

"Its bad enough that I got that fuckin' tack bender on my ass all day, now I got you? Naw, that'll be the day" the redneck told T-Dog.

"That'll be the day? You got something you wanna tell me?" T-Dog asked.

"T-Dog stop, it isn't worth it, now Merle, back off" Morales told them both. "We have enough trouble already"

Merle Dixon walked closer to T-Dog. "You wanna know the day? The day I take orders from a nigger!?"  
T-Dog cursed at Merle before taking a swing at him, only to get whacked in the face by Merles gun. Merle started to beat T-Dog even hitting Rick when he tried to intervene. Merle kicked T-Dog, again, making him hit his face on a pole.

"Redneck! Stop it!" Jennifer called out at him, the sound of her gun hammer clicking back making everyone stop. Merle stopped his assault on T-Dog to look at her, catching him off guard long enough for Rick to hit Merle with a rifle, knocking him to the ground. Rick quickly handcuffed Merle to the pole he kicked T-Dog into.

"You bitch! And who are you?" Merle spat at Rick and Jennifer. 

"Officer Friendly and a kick ass kid" Rick said straight to Merle backing away from him.

"Listen to me Merle, there aren't no "Niggers" anymore, no dumb as glass inbred white boys either, just white meat and dark meat, us and the dead" Rick told Merle who just glared at him.

"Screw you man, and that little bitch next to you"

"I can see you have a habit of missing the point"

"Screw you both twice" Merle said to him.  
Jennifer walked up to him, putting the barrel of her gun to the side of his head. 

"You Ought to be polite to people with guns, its common sense" She mocked. Everyone else just looked at the debate going on between them.

"I'm just a man, looking after a kid, and trying to find his family, anyone who gets in the way of that, is gonna pay, ill give you a moment to think about that" Rick told him before secarching him for weapons and walking away.

Merle continued to shout at Rick as he walked away, Rick started talking to Morales about something while Jennifer walked towards everyone else.  
"You ok?" She asked T-Dog, he just nodded at her, fiddling with the radio in his hands.

"Sorry for almost slitting your throat" She said to Andrea who looked at her.

"You weren't really going to do it were you?" Andrea asked her.

"Oh, I was, which is why I'm glad you didn't try to shoot him"

Andrea's eyes widened and she looked worried for a second or two.

"Who is Rick to you anyway? Is he your dad?" Andrea asked her.

Jennifer shook her head. "No, he's just a friend, both my parents are dead" 

"I'm really sorry that happened" Andrea looked at her apologetically.

"You don't need to apologise, you didn't kill them"

They were silent for a minute before Andrea asked.

"Why are you in America, from your accent its clear you're British" 

"My parents and I were on vacation here, when everything happened, we couldn't go back so we were stuck here" Jennifer told her.

"How old are you?" Andrea asked.

"12"

Andrea raised an eyebrow at that. "You're awfully mature for a 12 year old"

" I have to be now, or I die" Jennifer said very bluntly.

Some time passed and the group had figured out a plan to get out and escape. Jennifer stayed with T-Dog and Merle on the roof, while everyone else went down.

"Hello? Anybody out there? Can anyone read me?" T-Dog spoke into the radio. 

"I'm getting real sick of hearing mine" 

Merle just laughed at him. "Yeah, that makes two of us, turn that damn thing off, giving me a head ache boy"

"Why don't you get your head out your ass, Merle?"

"I'll tell you what, you get me outta these cuffs and ill be happy positive sunshine for ya?"

"Get that hacksaw for me, I'll make it wort-"

"Shut up, Redneck" Jennifer cut him off.

"Pardon you?" He said to her.

"Just shut up, at least until they get back, that goes for everyone" She said. 

Rick and everyone else returned not long after, looking for another way to escape.

"They're drawn by sound right?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, like dogs, they hear sound, they come running" Glenn replied.

"What else?"

"All senses, hear you, see you, smell you"

"They can smell you?" Jennifer asked, wondering how she hadn't figured it out sooner.

Rick had a bad idea, but it was the only good one they had.

Jennifer waited indoors as eveyone dragged a dead one inside to lather themselves up with the guts, to mask their smell, making them blend in. Rick grabbed a fire axe from the wall, and started hacking away at the dead one on the floor. Eveyone recoiled from the sight of the mangled body.

"Everyone ready? Don't get any in your skin or eyes" Rick stated as he started coating himself in the guts.

After they were done Rick asked. "Do we smell like them?"  
Jennifer nodded at him. "Yeah, I though Merle smelt bad but this is a whole new level" 

Andrea handed Glenn a gun, just incase.

"Rick, what about Redneck on the roof" Jennifer asked him. Rick fumbled his pockets before handing her the key to his handcuffs. She knew what she was going to do with it and she couldn't wait. After Rick and Glenn left she walked back up to the roof to watch them from above.

Merle kept asking where his handcuff key was at, but Jennifer and everyone else remained silent.

Everything was going well, they remained undetected until the weather decided to go bad at the worst time.

The rain started washing off the guts and smell from their clothing, and more dead ones started noticing them. 

They broke into a sprint for their lives, evading the dead and managing to get to the truck, where everyone quickly assumed the were leaving them to die.

"No, Rick wouldn't do that, they're coming back!" Jennifer told the group.

A  
They did come back, they were making a diversion and the group quickly ran down the staircase, while Merle please with them to set him free. When everyone was gone, Jennifer looked at Merle and smiled.

"Tsk tsk tsk, If it isn't the consequences of your actions Merle" 

He looked at her curiously before she took the key out of her pocket, let him see it. Then spinning around and throwing the key, off the building. 

Merle screamed at her, cursing her. As she ran to the stairwell, she tripped over a toolbox when she ran before chaining the door to the roof, to stop Merle from being devoured. 

Jennifer joined back up with the group when a car alarm could be heard not too far away. They got to the ground floor as the dead ones broke through the glass door. Every ran as fast as they could to Rick in the van. 

Cutting it very close, with a dead one almost grabbing Jennifer, they managed to get away. The memory of her leaving that Redneck on the roof, fresh in her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to swing Andrea's character around a bit, making her more like her comic counterpart.
> 
> Again, I welcome all criticism, it really helps.
> 
> And let me know if you're enjoying this story.


	3. Tell it to the frogs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the scuffle in the City, the group make it to the camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you're enjoying this
> 
> Criticism is greatly appreciated, mainly negative so I know what to improve on.

"Jennifer, what did you do with Merle?" Rick asked her, knowing she was ther sole reason he wasn't there.

"I threw the key of the roof" She said, as if it was nothing. Everyone looked at her, as if they'd witnessed a crime in the old world. 

"Yo-you did what?" Rick asked her again, not believing she purposefully left him. Jennifer just turned to look out the windows on the truck, not wanting eye contact with anyone.

"He wasn't going to stop! He would've attacked someone again, maybe killing them" She reasoned.

"I did it for the safety of everyone"

"Look, no ones really going to miss or hate the fact Merle was left behind, except maybe his brother" Morales told them, moving up to the front of the truck.

Jennifers eyes widened at what Morales had told her.

"Oh shit"

"Watch your language" Rick scolded her again.

"He has a brother! If id have known that I wouldn't have left him!" Jennifer shouted, throwing her hands up.  
Everyone sat in silence, the only noise was the truck against the road, until a familiar car alarm got louder and louder. Glenns yelling could be heard from inside the van, even with the windows closed, he overtook them in an expensive red, sports car, all the while being a sign for the dead ones to follow.

They arrived at a sort of quarry, following Glenn loosely. While they were taking the road Glenn took, the beeping of the car alarm stopped.

As they arrived, Jennifer could see Glenn, and another Blonde woman, who looked similar to Andrea, standing next to him. There was an Old Man, in a sunhat, with a rifle slung over his shoulder. More people stood around, looking at the van

Morales patted Rick on the shoulder, while taking off his seat belt before saying.  
"Come meet everybody, they'll want to"

Jennifer waited for Rick before getting out of the truck, she hadn't really felt all that comfortable around them, except for Glenn, because her first impressions were not good.  
She listened to everyone getting back to their friends and family, missing her own. Jennifer looked around her. There was an RV in front of them, and some other vehicles; a couple of tents were visible.

"Howd you guys get out anyway?" She heard a man ask.

"New guys, they got us out, kinda" Glenn told him.

"Yeah, some crazy cop and a little girl, rode into town" Morales said.

Jennifer followed closely behind Rick, as they looked at everyone, it was silent before Rick muttered to himself, before walking towards the crowd.

"Dad! Dad!" She heard a boy shout, him running towards Rick, with a woman behind him. She couldn't believe it, he had actually found them, they were alive!  
Jennifer was happy for him, they'd been dealt a shit hand since they met, it was about time for a break.  
Rick pulled his kid into a hug picking him up and walking over to the woman, supposedly his wife, before embracing them both, while everyone just stood around, happy for them.

And who are you?" 

She visibly jumped, and looked to her right. Her startled expression met the surprised one of the old man. He was raising an eyebrow, the rifle he possessed still, hanging off of his shoulder.

"Jennifer White, I'm from England." She told him, stretching her hand out a handshake. The old man shook her hand.

'Names Dale Horavath"

"Jennifer, I want you to meet somebody" She heard Rick call out to her, making his way towards her.

"This is my Wife Lori, and my son Carl," 

"Nice to meet you," Lori said with a strained smile

Jennifer waved at her, focusing on the boy standing behind her, he seemed pretty shy, he was quite pale, his hair was a shade like Lori's, he had pale blue eyes like his father, he was just a bit taller than Jennifer.

"Hey, I'm Jennifer" She greeted Carl, smiling.

"Hi"

"Is that your gun?" He asked her.

"Yeah, it was my dads" 

His eyes lit up for a second. "Thats so cool, my mom won't let me use a gun"

"Well, we don't have just anyone walking around with guns here" A man behind her said, she turned around.

"We'll keep those safe for ya" He continued.

"No" 

"Pardon?"

"I'm not giving this to you, or anyone, it was my fathers and the only thing I have left from him, besides the knife" Jennifer told him.

"Wheres your daddy? He with you?" He asked.

"He's dead, if you keep asking that damn question, I'll stab you"

After more arguing, she finally was allowed to keep her fathers weapons on her.

It was dark, when they all were sitting around a campfire, for warmth and light. By that point, Jennifer had eased up, sitting next to Rick, who was next to Lori, with Carl in between them.

"Disoriented. Fear, confusion, all those things, but most of all, Disoriented" Rick said.

"Words can and are meager things" The old man, Dale, said, putting a tin on the ground.

"I felt like id been ripped out of my own life, and then thrown into another" Rick continued.

"For a while, I thought I'd been trapped in some sort of dream, in my coma, something I might not ever wake up from" 

"Mom said you died" Carl quietly stated, looking up at his father.

"She had every right and reason to believe that, don't you ever doubt it" Rick told his son, missing the glance Lori threw at Shane.

"When things started to really bad, the hospital, they told me they were going to medevac him in a Helicopter, and alot of patients to Atlanta, it never happened" Lori told the group.

Rick shook his head "Well, with state of Atlanta im not surprised, at by the look of that Hospital, it got overrun"

"Looks can decieve, I barely got them out" The man, Shane, from earlier, who wanted Jennifers weapons, spoke up.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for you doing that, Shane" Rick thanked his apparent Best Friend.

"I can't begin to express my thanks"

"Heh, those words falling flat again" Dale said.  
Everyone was silent until another man put a log on the fire.

"Hey Ed, you wanna rethink that log?" Shane asked him.

"Its cold man" Ed told him, leaning his head back on his chair.

"The cold don't change the rules don't it? We keep our fires to embers so we can't be seen from a distance" Shane said.

"I said its cold" Ed responded, completely ignoring Shane and being an ass.

Shane got up, and walked over to Ed, clearly annoyed by the man's ignorance.  
"You sure you wanna have this conversation?" Shane asked him.

"Go on, pull the damn thing out, go on" Ed told him, finally opening his eyes. Shane yanked the burning log out the fire pit, and stomped it out. He walked over to another kid and her mother.

"Carol, Sophia, how are you this evening" He asked them.

"We're fine, sorry about the fir-"

"No, no apology needed" Shane cut her off.

"Appreciate the co-operation" Shane told Ed, walking back to his seat.

"Have we taken Daryl Dixon into consideration? He's not going to be happy his brother was left behind" Dale said.

"I'll tell this, Daryl Dixon" Jennifer stated, chipping into the conversation.

"Why?" Shane asked her, curiosity as to why this little girl would have any need to.

"I was the one who threw away the key to his handcuffs" She said.

"On purpose?"

"Of course, he was a danger and would've murdered T-Dog, and then I would have killed him, now both of them are still alive" Jennifer explained.

"I don't blame you, but it should be an adult, and why would both of them be alive? The geeks got through when we left?" T-Dog asked.

"If this Daryl Dixon is anything like his brother, he'll kill the messenger, I don't think he'd hurt a child, but I'll kill him if he trys, as for Merle, I'd chained the roof door, he'd be fine from those dead ones" Jennifer told them all, hoping they didn't think she was psychotic.

"Shes right, Merle was dangerous, Daryl will have to accept that, die or leave" Andrea agreed with her.

"And thats what we tell Daryl?" Dale asked.

"No, I WILL tell him, I threw the key" Jennifer emphasised the 'I' in her sentence, hoping to end the discussion.  
More words were said and some sort of plan was formed, but Jennifer was to tired to pay attention to it, looking for somewhere she could sleep.

"Rick?" Jennifer whispered to him, nudging his arm.

"Is there anywhere i can sleep?" She asked him, hery eyes drooping slightly.

"You can sleep with us, next to Carl, is that ok?" He asked her. Jennifer just nodded at him.

Jennifer was on floor of the tent, In her sleeping bag, next to Carl, while Lori and Rick were the other side of the tent. She didn't have any sleepwear in her backpack, so she slept in her normal clothes. Rick was speaking to Carl, but she was to tired to hear what he was saying, Jennifer just let her tiredness overtake her, until she fell asleep...

Jennifer woke up in an empty tent. For a second or two, she panicked, before quickly remembering the events of the previous day. Only a day ago she met Rick Grimes, only yesterday did she get to Atlanta, only yesterday did she leave that redneck on the roof, only yesterday did she find a group she could stay with.

She found it funny, she'd only known Rick for a day, yet he was like a family member you see every few weeks.  
She supposed it was his protectiveness and dedication. He could've just left her, but he didn't, she was glad she had someone she could depend on. Jennifer lied there for a few minutes, before a loud, child-like scream cut through the camp. She immediately grabbed her hunting knife and sprinted out of the tent. Jennifer followed the shouts of people, and went past Carl, Lori and a few others to see a group huddled around a dead one biting into a deers neck. They all just looked at it feasting on the already dead deer, the cause more than likely the arrows in its back.

"You are all idiots!" Jennifer shouted at them, lunging at the Dead one and planting her knife into its skull.

"What the fuck were you all doing! Just watching it have a snack?!" She questioned them.

"Thats the first one we've had up here, they never come this far up the mountain" Dale pointed out, obviously a little shook at the appearance of a Dead one at the  
quarry.

"They'll be running out of food in the city, thats why" A man named Jim said.

"No one answered my question" Jennifer said.  
They all stood silent for a moment before rustling from the bushes near them put them all on edge. Everyone turned towards the noise, Shane aimed his shotgun.

A man with a crossbow, who looked a little similar to Merle, emerged from the woods. Jennifer though it must be Daryl.

"Son'va bitch! Thats my deer! Look at it, all gnawed on by this disease bearing, filthy, motherless bastard!" Daryl shouted as he kicked the Dead one repeatedly.  
His accent confirmed for Jennifer, that he was Merles brother.

"Calm down son, that ain't helping" Dale told him.

"What do you know bout it Old man, take that stupid hat and go back to on golden pond" Daryl said, clearly pissed off about the deer.

"Been tracking this deer for miles, gonna bring it back to camp, cook it up, whaddya think we can cut round this chewed up part right ere'?" Daryl said, pointing at the deer's torn open neck.

"I would not risk that" Shane told him, balancing his shotgun on his shoulders.

"Damn shame, I got some squirrels though, bout a dozen of em, that'll have to do"

"Oh god" Amy, Andrea's sister said behind them, before turning around and walking away. The dead one was still twitching, Jennifers knife hadn't gone deep enough.

"Come on people, what the hell" Daryl said before plunging an arrow from his crossbow, into its head. Daryl started walking back to camp, and eveyone else followed.

"Merle! Merle! Get your ass out here! Got us some Squirrel, stew em up!" 

"Ooh, I think your brother is going to have a hard time cooking up those squirrels, redneck" Jennifer smirked at Daryl.

"Oh yeah? Whys that?" 

"I left him handcuffed to a rooftop in Atlanta yesterday"  
She said bluntly, crossing her arms at him.

"You handcuffed him and left him there!"

"Yeah, I did, threw the key off of the roof, right in front of him"

Daryl threw a bag at Jennifer just before charging at her, only to immediately get slammed to the ground by Shane. He tried to get out his knife but Jennifer had hers to his neck before he could

"I wouldn't try that" 

"You cocky bitch!" He shouted at her before kicking her legs and knocking her down, Daryl got back up and tried slashing her, before Rick and Shane grabbed him, and Shane put him in a chokehold.

"You bastards better let me go!"  
Daryl continued to thrash and try to get out of the hold Shane had on him but it was useless. Rick got down to his level and looked him in the eye.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic, could we do that, ya think we can manage that?" Rick asked him. After a few more seconds, Shane let go of him, dropping him to the ground.

"What I did, was not on a whim, your brother, does not work well with others" Rick told him. Daryl just continued to pant.

"It ain't Ricks fault" Jennifer chimed back into the discussion.

"I left him there, I could have gotten him out, but, he would've killed T-Dog there, and most likely me and Rick for chaining him in the first place!" Jennifer shouted at him, hoping he'd listen and accept it.

"That supposed to make me feel better? It don't" Daryl told her.

"Well, maybe this will, I chained the roof to the door, so, even if the dead bastards got up there, they couldn't get to him"

"Its gotta count for something" Rick said.

"To hell with all y'all! Tell me where he is, so I can go get em" Daryl said, kicking dirt around.

"They'll show you, isn't that right?" Lori said, from inside the RV.

"We are going back, at least me and Rick are, we had a bag of guns with us that are still there, come with us" Jennifer told Daryl. 

Jennifer went and sat by Carl and Lori, while Rick got ready for the trip back to Atlanta. The three of them talked for a bit before Rick showed up.

"Why, why would you risk your life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon?" Shane said.

"Ay, choose your words more carefully" Daryl warned him. Shane turned to look at him.  
"  
Oh I did, douchebag is what I meant, you Dixons, I wouldn't give you a glass of water if you was dying of thirst" Shane muttered, before turning back to Rick.

"I can't let a man die of thirst, me, thirst and exposure, we left him caged up there like an animal caught in a trap, thats no way for anything to die, let alone a human being" Rick told Shane.

"So, you and Daryl? Thats your big plan?" Lori asked.  
Rick turned to look at Glenn and tilted his head slightly.

"Oh come on man" Glenn moaned.

"Quit whining, I'm going too" Jennifer told Glenn, tieing the laces of her shoes.

"You know the way, you said it yourself, in and out, thats how you said it. Its not fair of me to ask i know but I'd feel alot safer if you were with me, a few other aswell" Rick told Glenn, who just ran his hands through his hair, not wanting any part in going back.

"Great, now you're gonna risk three men and a little girl" Shane complained.

"You're putting every one of us at risk, Rick, you saw that walker it was here, it was in camp. If they move out the city we need every able body here to help to protect camp" Shane continued his complaints at Rick.

"The bag of guns we had, had like, 6 shotguns, 2 rifles, a dozen handguns with ammo to support them, we need those weapons" Jennifer told Shane.

"I cleaned out the armory at the police station before I left, I dropped the bag in Atlanta when we got swarmed, its still there, waiting for us to get it back" Rick said.

"You've went through hell, you just got here and n-now you're turning back?" Lori asked him.

"I-i don't want you to go" Carl told Rick, agreeing with his mother.

"To hell with the guns, Shane is right, Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives even with guns thrown in" Lori told Rick, adamant on him staying.

"I owe a debt, to a man I met, and his little boy, Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, helped me, I would've had died in the street, right in front of our house. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta, they'll walk into the same trap in did, if I don't warn them" Rick informed Lori, who seemed to accept he wasn't going to stay.

"I had a Walkie Talkie in the bag i dropped, he's got the other one, our plan was to join up when I got to the city" Rick continued.

"Our Walkie Talkies?" Shane asked, sitting on the front of his Jeep.

"Just use the CB" Andrea suggested.

"CB won't work, those walkies are crap, date back to the 70's they won't pick up much" Shane told her. 

Jennifer walked over to Carl, tuning out the discussion still happening.

"Hey Carl?" She asked, trying to grab the boys attention.

"Yeah?" 

"We'll come back safe, alright? Not a single scratch or bite, I'll make sure Ricks okay"

"Promise?" He asked her.

"Yeah, promise" She agreed.  
They both just sat there, while Jennifer was waiting for everyone to be ready to leave.

"Can we be friends?" Jennifer asked Carl, who just nodded at her.

"Your dad is a great guy, I'm glad I know him" Jennifer told Carl, trying to start up a conversation.

"Yeah, I was so happy when I saw him get out of the truck, I thought i was dreaming for a second" Carl told her.

"What about you? What happened to your parents?" He asked her. Carl noticed her eyes start to get slightly watery.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that" He told her, regretting his question.

"No, no. Its okay, I need to come to terms with it sooner , rather than later. We were at a refugee camp, when it got overrun, we didn't have time to grab much from our tents, because there were so many of them, we were so close to getting out of the perimeter when my mother was grabbed by one of the dead, and more and more just descended upon her. Me and my dad, we had to keep moving, we couldn't help her." Jennifer told Carl 

"I'm sorry" 

"Don't be, you didn't do anything wrong" She said to Carl.

"After a few weeks on our own, one of the dead jumped up behind us, catching us off guard, my dad spun round and stopped it from getting me, but it gnawed into his forearm before he could kill it. In the end, he gave me his weapons and told me to go, saying I shouldn't have to put him out of his pain. He said it would hurt me more if I had done it" Jennifers was on the verge of breaking into tears, remembering her parents, when she felt two arms wrap round her. Carl was hugging her, and it made her feel better.

A truck horn grabbed their attention.

"Come on, hurry up!" They both heard Daryl shout.

"I've got to go, we'll all come back safe, and thank you" Jennifer said to Carl before she got into the back of the truck. They started their journey back to the city.

They eventually made it to some train tracks, just outside the city.

"He better be okay, girl, thats my only word on the matter" Daryl sneered at Jennifer.

"He'll be fine, biker boy"

The truck stopped and Glenn told them thye have to walk, or else the dead will hear the car. They all got out and started to follow Glenn.

They made it to the building where they left Merle, the place held nearly no Walkers, compared to when it was filled last time they were there.

"Damn, you are one ugly skank" Daryl said, before putting a Walker down with a bolt. They continued through the building, eveyone following Daryl.  
They made it to the top, where the lock was still in place, meaning nothing got through to Merle.  
Glenn cut the chain and Daryk kicked it open, charging through to help Merle. Jennifer saw Daryl move around while shouting. The cause was a single, bloody, mutilated hand, right where Merle used to be...

**Author's Note:**

> Please, please please! If you can, give me some criticism and your opinions on my writing. It would help a ton.


End file.
